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Dathomir
Dathomir was an obscure planet in the Outer Rim Territories, located in the Quelii sector. It was somewhat smaller than Coruscant in size, and had slightly-below-standard gravity, but the planetary day was close to standard, and the planetary year was long, lasting 491 days. Dathomir had four moons. Dathomir was considered a temperate and beautiful planet by Human standards, with a varied terrain that included coastal lakes and tar-pits, thick forests and snow-capped mountain peaks, powerful rivers and broad savannas, small icecaps and dramatic rift valleys. Even under the New Republic, however, nine-tenths of the planet remained unexplored and uninhabited, with the population limited to a relatively small area along the edge of one of the three main continents, a zone of uplands and river plains bounded on one side by the unsailed ocean and on the other by vast expanses of desert. Native lifeforms Although the two cultures most closely associate with Dathomir were the ancient spacefaring Kwa and the Human group known as the Witches of Dathomir, it should not be forgotten that the sentient species at the apex of Dathomir's native food-chain was in fact the mighty rancor. The fact that the rancors were sentient often came as a surprise to unsuspecting offworlders. It is not clear whether they had made any independent progress towards basic tokens of civilization like kindled fire or shaped tools, and their social system and lifestyle were little different from those of many nonsentient animals: matriarchal herds led by herd-mothers roamed the landscape, hunting live prey for food. But they passed on their clan histories from generation to generation, and when they formed a symbiont circle with the planet's Human population in the last centuries of the Galactic Republic, they adopted basic armor and weapons. Under the New Republic, Tosh, herd-mother of the rancor group, associated with the Human Singing Mountain Clan, learned to read and write, and began to pass on this skill to the other rancors of her herd. Dathomiri rancors were also larger than off-world specimens, with full-grown adults in the range of eight to ten meters tall. This extreme size can in part be attributed to the planet's low gravity, which allowed native trees to rise up to eighty meters tall, but it may also reflect a more general effect of the sheer vibrancy of the planet's biosphere. The temperate climate and varied terrain had given rise to a dramatically diverse ecosystem, thriving with so much life that the air almost seemed to sparkle in the Force. Other native fauna included the rancor's major prey species, the drebbin and ssurrians, as well as the burra fish, the simian pack-hunting purbole and the acid-jawed, insectile shear mite. However, several of Dathomir's most important species, notably the Humans and the Kwi, had arrived on Dathomir over the millennia as the result of off-world contacts. History Pre-Republic History Around 100,000 BBY, Dathomir was colonized by a spacefaring species, the reptilian Kwa, who built an Infinity Gate on the planet;the Prime Gate in a network of similar devices, used by them as superweapons and as a means of interstellar travel. The Infinity Gate was covered by massive pyramid-shaped structures known as the Star Temples, incorporating defensive systems to protect them from intruders. If the gate was ever activated, the planet housing the equipment could be collapsed into the Gate itself, along with the surrounding planets, moons and even suns. For reasons that are unclear, the Kwa species began to degenerate, ultimately losing the ability to speak or use technological tools. Apparently recognizing the path that their civilization was on, they sealed the Infinity Gate and the Star Temples and set guardians to protect the Temples; whuffa worms with thick hides and an impressive turn of speed. The degenerate descendants of the Kwa came to be known as the Kwi or Blue Desert People, and like the rancors they appeared to be simple herd animals living around the planet's arid Great Desert; but on occasion they still showed some surprising hints of intelligence, including a capability to create primitive tools and ornaments, and they possessed a collective memory of their former glory, and the importance of the sanctity of the Star Temples. Around 30,000 BBY, Dathomir was ruled by the space-faring Rakata. Using Force-based hyperdrives, they traveled to many worlds around the galaxy that possessed significant signatures in the Force, uniting them to form the Rakatan Infinite Empire. After five thousand years of galactic dominance, the Rakata retreated to their homeworld following the outbreak of a plague. Linguistic evidence shows that the native language of the planet's Humans derives at least in part from that of an Outer Rim hegemony known as the Paecian Empire, dating their presence on the world to about 3,000 BBY. Around 1,002 BBY, the Brotherhood of Darkness operated a Sith academy on the world that trained Sith Acolytes and Sith apprentices. Later Dathomiri tradition would remember the initial Human population as the exiled creators of illegal droid armies, but it is not clear whether the settlers arrived in a single event, or whether the planet was in more continuous use as a penal colony over a period of centuries or millennia. It cannot even be said for sure whether the Paecian exiles were leaders or enemies of their Empire. What is certain is that by [[600 BBY], the planet's Human population had become little more than the favorite food for the rancors, reduced to hiding in the thick forests where the mighty beasts could not follow them. The Daughters of Allya At that time, however, a rogue Jedi Knight named Allya was banished to Dathomir by the Jedi Council. She took the leadership of the survivors, teaching the ways of the Force to the exiles, and eventually to her own children. In later centuries, Allya was remembered as single-handedly transforming Dathomiri society, credited with enslaving the entire male population under her leadership, turning the rancors from predators to friends, pets and war mounts, and codifying her teachings in the Book of Law. Some accounts even seem to suppose that she was a lone woman within an otherwise entirely male population. But in reality, these practices may have evolved over several generations, and the parallel with the matriarchal social structure of the rancors may be significant, especially given the symbiosis of the Human warrior-women and their mounts; but Allya's leadership undoubtedly laid the foundations of a unique culture, dominated by Force-using women who regarded themselves collectively as her descendants, known to outsiders as the Witches of Dathomir. Over the centuries, the total Human population of Dathomir grew to perhaps just over five thousand, based in a relatively narrow coastal area of one of the planet's continents: more than 90% of the planet remained unexplored. The Dathomiri came to be divided into a number of reasonably permanent local clan communities, which took their names from significant geographical features such as Singing Mountain, Frenzied River, and Misty Falls. These clans, each just a few hundred strong, accounted for almost the entire planetary population, but there were also small numbers of exiles who lived outside the clan communities, including the planet's dark-siders, called Nightsisters, who at times existed in sufficient numbers to form a distinct clan. In total, the clans could probably put at least a thousand warrior-women into the field, each of them a trained Force-user and many of them riding rancor mounts. The strength of the Dathomiri was discovered by the Jedi Order in around 340 BBY, when the Jedi Academy ship Chu'unthor crashed into a tar pit on Dathomir. All attempts to retrieve the wreck were blocked by the natives, although it seems that some contacts were forged across the battle-lines. At some point, Dathomir appears to have been part of the Republic, and was classed as part of Quelii sector, but eventually, it fell into the space under the rule of the Drackmarians; another matriarchal warrior race, but this time methane-breathing aliens, for whom the planet held little real interest. Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War In 31 BBY, the remaining Kwi were decimated by a clan of Nightsisters during their attempt to access the secrets of the Infinity Gate. They intended to use the device to destroy Coruscant, though their plot was thwarted by the Jedi Quinlan Vos, who was able to make contact with the Kwa, and assumed the role of Temple Guardian, to redirect the deadly wave aimed at Coruscant back at the Infinity Gate. Only the scattered ruins of the Infinity Gate and the Star Temple were left, and the Kwi disappeared once more to roam the deserts. After the Great Jedi Purge, the fabled village of Aurilia was believed to be located somewhere on Dathomir, and it was rumored that Force-sensitive individuals, perhaps even Jedi, lived here in exile during the reign of the Galactic Empire. However, the Empire soon sent a fleet into Quelii sector to wrest territory from the Drackmarians, and Dathomir was claimed for the Empire by an officer named Zsinj, then commanding the Victory-class Star Destroyer Iron Fist. Around 2 BBY Emperor Palpatine reestablished a penal colony for important political prisoners, while the Imperial garrison hunted the remaining Kwi to near-extinction. Around this time, fallen Jedi Master Quinis Asanis may have procured his Nightsister student and bodyguard Sira Ves. Shortly after the Imperials arrived, a new clan of Nightsisters began to form with Imperial encouragement, but when Palpatine realized the threat they posed in the Force, he quickly placed the planet under interdiction. Two Star Destroyers were stationed in the system to prevent further contact with the surface, and the Nightsister clan then enslaved the stranded Imperial garrison and their prisoners. Modern Era Although contested at times, Dathomir has generally remained under the jurisdiction of the Empire. Space travel has been largely interdicted. With the chaos of the Xen'Chi War, many people have been able to slip through the Imperial blockade, including Daer'Gunn and the participants of the Sojourn. Sometime in late 17 ABY, Dathomir had been forgotten to the extent that the Dark Lord Darius Malakai was able to park his battlemoon in Dathomir orbit for extended periods of time without attracting attention. He also launched ambitious mining and deforestation efforts on the planet's surface. Notable Clans and Individuals *Fire Mountain Clan **Nandi **Silone *Flowing River Clan *Tainted Earth Clan **Suli *Red Hills Clan *Grey Mountain Clan **Dan'Ae **Araya Nightsisters *Burning Rock Clan **Sira Ves **Melody Hunt Canonical information courtesy of Wookieepedia